Hiker Sarah Shourd says she won't return to Iran

OAKLAND

Published 4:00 am, Wednesday, May 4, 2011

Photo: Stringer, AP

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In this May 20, 2010 file photo, American hikers Shane Bauer, left, Sarah Shourd, center, and Josh Fattal, sit at the Esteghlal Hotel in Tehran, Iran. Iran has set a Feb. 6, 2011 trial date for three Americans arrested more than a year ago along the Iraqi border and charged with spying, their lawyer said Sunday, Nov. 21, 2010. less

In this May 20, 2010 file photo, American hikers Shane Bauer, left, Sarah Shourd, center, and Josh Fattal, sit at the Esteghlal Hotel in Tehran, Iran. Iran has set a Feb. 6, 2011 trial date for three Americans ... more

Photo: Stringer, AP

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(FILES)--A picture combo dated May 20, 2010 shows detained US hiker (L-R) Shane Bauer, recently freed hiker Sarah Shourd and detained hiker Josh Fattal during a meeting with their mothers in Tehran. The trial of three American hikers charged with espionage, which had been set for November 6, has been postponed, Iran's prosecutor Gholam Hossein Mohseni Ejeie said on November 01, 2010. less

FILE - This Oct. 9, 2010 file photo shows Sarah Shourd speaking to the media in Oakland, Calif. Shourd, released from prison in Iran, says she won't be going back to stand trial there alongside two fellow hikers charged with spying for the U.S., Wednesday, May 4, 2011. less

FILE - This Oct. 9, 2010 file photo shows Sarah Shourd speaking to the media in Oakland, Calif. Shourd, released from prison in Iran, says she won't be going back to stand trial there alongside two fellow ... more

Photo: Dino Vournas, Associated Press 2010

Hiker Sarah Shourd says she won't return to Iran

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(05-04) 10:05 PDT BERKELEY --

Sarah Shourd, the American released in September after spending more than a year imprisoned in Iran, said Wednesday that she is suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and will not return to the Middle East for her trial on charges that she and two other UC Berkeley graduates committed espionage.

Shourd, 32, her fiance, Shane Bauer, 28, and 28-year-old Josh Fattal were traveling in Iraq's Kurdistan region and hiking near the Iran border in July 2009 when they were arrested by Iranian authorities. They were accused of espionage and trespassing.

Shourd, who had been living in Syria at the time teaching English, said they were simply sight-seeing in the mountainous region. If her group did cross the border, she said, it was unintentional.

In a statement from Oakland Wednesday, Shourd said she will not return to Iran for a second session of the trial, scheduled for Wednesday. She said a clinical psychologist had concluded that she is at high risk for renewed or increased psychological problems if she were to go back to Iran, where she was held at Evin Prison.

"I spent 14 months in Evin Prison, but the situation is much, much worse for Shane and Josh, who have now been held for more than 21 months," Shourd said. "They have to live every second of every day with the fear and uncertainty that comes from not knowing why they are being held, what is going to happen to them, or how their families are coping. I experienced that, and it is terrifying.

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"We are not spies, and Iran knows it. Shane and Josh should be free to resume their lives, and I hope the court will release them because they have done nothing wrong."

Shourd has said that an Iranian judge told her that she was released in September on humanitarian grounds. While she was detained, her family reported that she had a lump in a breast and precancerous cervical cells. Doctors have since assured her that her health outlook was not critical.

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